52 troops killed in suicide attack in Yemen’s Aden

Date of publication: 19 12 2016, 11:53

While fighting in Yemen is dangerous business at any rate, pro-Saudi troops in the southern port city of Aden seem to be finding that the most dangerous part of their job lately is trying to collect their pay, as for the second week in a row an ISIS suicide bomber attacked and killed scores of soldiers lining up to get paid.

Officials say that at least 52 soldiers were killed today and 63 others wounded. The preliminary report is that the attacker was a lone man on foot wearing a suicide vest, and ISIS identified the bomber as one of their members, Abu Hashim al-Radfani.

This is remarkably similar to the incident last weekend, when again in Aden a single suicide bomber attacked and killed 50 soldiers in line to get paid, wounding 70 others. Yemeni officials promised an investigation into the first incident, though naturally it’s not finished yet.

Aden is the de facto capital of the pro-Saudi Yemeni faction, the “Hadi government.” The capital city of Sanaa is under the control of the Shi’ite Houthi movement, who have their own government. Both governments face regular attacks from ISIS and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).